Wow John! Step away from the ledge man, its not worth it!! You must be expecting these players to fold like lawn chairs if you are only predicting 6 or 7 wins. The defense is going to be pretty good and the offense can't be any worse than it was under Tressel. If Miller is the QB and we have Smith, Berry and Hall behind him at TB they will be fine for the first five games. You make some good points but are you really going to miss the play calling that we saw in the second half of the Sugar Bowl? The recruiting philosophy's may be different but have nothing to do with this years team, in the future yes but not this year no.

If they beat Michigan he will likely get another year. Lose to the maze and blue plus 3 or 4 other teams and I don’t see Fickel being at the helm after December.

I see no way this team loses 3 or 4 games. From reading the players comments and tweets, this team has an us against the world attitude. I look for the offense to be more aggressive this year, which will be different from the philosophy from the past nine years which was for the offense to not put the defense in a bad spot.

 

If I've learned one thing from players comments and twitter tweets it is to not take them too seriously. USC had an us against the world mentality last year and it worked out great for them didn't it? They are just as, if not more talented than Ohio State and they did not have the player suspension problems Ohio State faces this year.

 

I think that a new coach is always worth at least two losses, especially if they are a first year guy. A frosh QB is worth one loss, or so the saying goes, but I'll take that to be two with all of the drama going on. That's before taking into account the usual what was Ohio State doing loss, which seems to happen every now and then to them.

 

Lost his starting QB for the season, starting Tackle, WR, RB, for five games. Lost 2 coaches who were calling offensive plays, have a coach on the staff he doesn't agree with on recruiting philosophy. I'll take 6 or 7 wins and start rebuilding the ship, the new coaches way.

:thumb: I do think they get 8, maybe 9 wins this year though.

I guess we will all have to wait and see how this team plays on the field but I don't see them losing two games due to the coaching change. Its hard to compare this team to USC, they were down to like 70 scholarship players last year. So far we have lost one player and if this team would have come back with a full roster and no NCAA issues they would be one of the favorites to make it to the National Championship game. Replacing the QB will be the most difficult obstacle and if you don't think this team is talented enough to win 10-12 games you are kidding yourself. Even though Tressel is gone the defensive philosophy will not change and if it does it will be for the better because they will be more aggressive. This is Fickell's one shot as his dream job and I expect him to play the best players at every position and take full advantage of the opportunity. If he does'nt he is sealing his own fate.

I guess we will all have to wait and see how this team plays on the field but I don't see them losing two games due to the coaching change. Its hard to compare this team to USC, they were down to like 70 scholarship players last year. So far we have lost one player and if this team would have come back with a full roster and no NCAA issues they would be one of the favorites to make it to the National Championship game. Replacing the QB will be the most difficult obstacle and if you don't think this team is talented enough to win 10-12 games you are kidding yourself. Even though Tressel is gone the defensive philosophy will not change and if it does it will be for the better because they will be more aggressive. This is Fickell's one shot as his dream job and I expect him to play the best players at every position and take full advantage of the opportunity. If he does'nt he is sealing his own fate.

 

Who has ever questioned the talent of this team? And USC was down a few players, but they had studs all over the field and their QB, while still young, had a season's worth of experience. OSU has the talent to win 12 games no doubt, but I would be willing to bet alot of money they don't get close to that.

I’m willing to give Fickel the benefit of doubt unless something comes out that he knew about illegal benefits. As far as TP, his first round status will be proven in due time so for me I think that is the bigger lie.

UCS pretty much replaced the whole staff and therefore had new playbooks, new schemes and a totally different way of doing things. That was a natural transition phase even though they had talent. I guess my point is there should not be much a of a transition period at OSU this year because other than Tressel all the same coaches are there and the system will be very similar to what Tressel ran. If they bring a new coach next year things will change quite a bit and there will be an adjustment period. For what it is worth, I have spoken to one of the players and he says the attitude of the players is very high and he says Braxton Miller is the real deal. He did not say he would take the first snap of the first game but he would be the starter by the Miami game. I would start the kid from Day 1 if I was Fickell.

Wow John! Step away from the ledge man, its not worth it!! You must be expecting these players to fold like lawn chairs if you are only predicting 6 or 7 wins. The defense is going to be pretty good and the offense can't be any worse than it was under Tressel. If Miller is the QB and we have Smith, Berry and Hall behind him at TB they will be fine for the first five games. You make some good points but are you really going to miss the play calling that we saw in the second half of the Sugar Bowl? The recruiting philosophy's may be different but have nothing to do with this years team, in the future yes but not this year no.

 

Not on any ledge my man. Just being realistic. Braxton was not planning on playing this year, but now he's preparing for week 1. The plan was to grade Fickell after 5 games but the plans have changed. The class of 2012 is loaded in Ohio maybe the best ever, Bucks don't want too many kids leaving Ohio, need stability in Cbus. Most believe r internally this is/was a national title contender in 2 years. We need to nail down the head coach and positional coaches to build the infrastructure. Would love a BCS game this year though.

If I've learned one thing from players comments and twitter tweets it is to not take them too seriously. USC had an us against the world mentality last year and it worked out great for them didn't it? They are just as, if not more talented than Ohio State and they did not have the player suspension problems Ohio State faces this year.

 

I think that a new coach is always worth at least two losses, especially if they are a first year guy. A frosh QB is worth one loss, or so the saying goes, but I'll take that to be two with all of the drama going on. That's before taking into account the usual what was Ohio State doing loss, which seems to happen every now and then to them.

 

:thumb: I do think they get 8, maybe 9 wins this year though.

 

Coker didn't lose two games but he also had a loaded squad. The BC game was almost a loss and VT played them close so those could have been the two L's. Fortunately they won both on route to winning the championship.

John, I agree they need to nail down the coaching job as soon as possible. Recruiting is going to suffer until they do. They have already lost a few recruits that probalby would have committed if all of this would not have went down. I realize I am looking at this years team through my scarlet and gray glasses but just can't imagine with the talent they have that they will pack it in and not get it done on the field. I think a lot of the players would like Fickell to be the next coach and will play their butts off to make it happen.

Coker didn't lose two games but he also had a loaded squad. The BC game was almost a loss and VT played them close so those could have been the two L's. Fortunately they won both on route to winning the championship.

 

Coker also inherited a team with how many future Pro Bowlers on it? Andre Johnson, Jon Vilma, DJ Williams, Ed Reed, Bryant McKinnie, Clinton Portis, Willis McGahee, Jeremy Shockey and Frank Gore are not walking through that door at Ohio State. Way different comparing the most talented team ever assembled to what Ohio State is going to bring next year with their suspensions and playing a young and/or inexperienced QB. Coker is the exception rather than the rule IMO, and he almost blew the games you were talking about as well as getting beat by a team with half their talent in 2002.

John, I agree they need to nail down the coaching job as soon as possible. Recruiting is going to suffer until they do. They have already lost a few recruits that probalby would have committed if all of this would not have went down. I realize I am looking at this years team through my scarlet and gray glasses but just can't imagine with the talent they have that they will pack it in and not get it done on the field. I think a lot of the players would like Fickell to be the next coach and will play their butts off to make it happen.

 

I agree with you it's not going to be a losing season or anything like that. Fickell is an excellent coach and he is going to do all he can to win this gig but is the gig too big for him at this stage. They will grade him after the first 5 games, then the Michigan game.